NACS Charging: Tesla masters a new realm: Federal EV infrastructure dollars - Article

[Tooney]

An analysis of public records shows Tesla has won the highest percentage of electric vehicle charging awards of any company from the infrastructure law.
. . .
Tesla is taking a different tack than other firms seeking the federal infrastructure money. First, it is proposing stations that are bigger than what other companies are building.
. . .
The first priority under the infrastructure law is to build a network of charging stations at 50-mile intervals along major highways. That is where Tesla’s stations will be built.
. . .
The company won bids in seven of the 14 states that have announced which private companies are receiving funds. Tesla scored federal dollars in Alaska, Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas and Tennessee, but none in Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Vermont or Utah, according to the EVAdoption data.
. . .
Tesla’s senior charging policy manager, Francesca Wahl, laid out the reasons for the numbers in a letter to Colorado’s Department of Transportation. “Based on Tesla’s experience building out travel corridor charging infrastructure, we have found that a minimum of 8 to 12 DC fast chargers at a site is necessary,” she wrote.

At the same time, Tesla is generally asking the federal government for less money per project. Tesla’s average funding per site — $414,554 — is dramatically lower than most other suitors for infrastructure law funds.

For example, another major winner, Pilot Travel Centers, won NEVI funds at an average of $631,069 per site. Another, BP Pulse, the charging arm of oil major BP, asked an average of $525,854 per site. The most expensive chargers are being built in Hawaii by Sustainability Partners, an infrastructure financing firm, and Aloha Charge, a Hawaii-based charging company, at an average price tag of $1,741,348 — more than four times’ Tesla’s average costs.

Behind Tesla in the fight for NEVI dollars are Francis Energy, which won over 11 percent of all federally funded stations, and Pilot, which nabbed 10 percent.

Only one company, Kum and Go, a service station chain based in Des Moines, Iowa, pledged per-project costs lower than Tesla. Its three winning bids averaged $346,322.

Tesla’s lower costs mean that states can build more charging stations for a smaller outlay of federal dollars. Conversely, the higher-cost stations mean that fewer of them will be built, since each state gets a prescribed amount of money per year through the infrastructure law.

https://www.eenews.net/articles/tesla-masters-a-new-realm-federal-ev-infrastructure-dollars/

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[daveo4EV]

“Based on Tesla’s experience building out travel corridor charging infrastructure, we have found that a minimum of 8 to 12 DC fast chargers at a site is necessary,” she wrote.

EA seems to feel that 4 stalls w/2 or 3 offline is a good number and the one or two functional stations are derated in order to encourage more quality time spent at the location while you wait for your EV to charge.

 

[Jonathan S.]

EA seems to feel that 4 stalls w/2 or 3 offline is a good number and the one or two functional stations are derated in order to encourage more quality time spent at the location while you wait for your EV to charge.

Let's not overlook the advanced skill of simultaneously concentrating on your laptop for getting work done while occasionally glancing up to see if a stall has opened up thereby providing a brief window to claim your chance before someone cuts in front of the line (to the extent that anyone has reached a consensus on the line status).

 

[Tooney]

Tesla's charging site policy - minimum of 8 to 12 DC fast chargers at a site - is not only ahead of EA, it is also far superior to other providers.
The first NEVI site in Ohio has opened. It is Pilot Travel Center with 2 EVGO stations - four dispensers in total. I'm glad the site is there, but 2 charging units is not going to cut it, given the typical flow of vehicles at a Pilot Travel Center.
My limited experience with EVGO DC charging is that it is not more reliable than EA, and considerably more expensive.
NEVI providing a bunch more 4 dispenser (2 station) sites is not going to be a big help.
Tesla knows how to do DC charging right.

 

[Scandinavian]

Tesla also seem to start a bit of competition on charging rates here. I had to charge my Model 3 the other night and looked at an overnight charge at home. Trying to set up the app I happened to browse the Tesla chargers nearby. Seems Tesla here apply very different rates at different sites.

My cheap overnight kWh rate is at present about 0.20 Euro. Veru surprised to see the rates below in the app, so a quick evening drive to charge up. And at a V3 charger that peaked at 250 kW!

Unfortunately that station is not open for all cars, so no charge for the Taycan there.

 

[JAGMAN]

Agree with everyone’s comments that sites with 8-12+ chargers are best. I’d add that it would be nice to have a better queuing system. Imagine if gas stations didn’t have a somewhat obvious line to queue in. I’m certain that queues were invented so that humans wouldn’t revert to their more basic instincts…

 

[Jonathan S.]

Tesla's charging site policy - minimum of 8 to 12 DC fast chargers at a site - is not only ahead of EA, it is also far superior to other providers.
The first NEVI site in Ohio has opened. It is Pilot Travel Center with 2 EVGO stations - four dispensers in total. I'm glad the site is there, but 2 charging units is not going to cut it, given the typical flow of vehicles at a Pilot Travel Center.
My limited experience with EVGO DC charging is that it is not more reliable than EA, and considerably more expensive.
NEVI providing a bunch more 4 dispenser (2 station) sites is not going to be a big help.
Tesla knows how to do DC charging right.

Instant Obsolescence -- alas, our federal taxpayer dollars at work, albeit routed through a state DOT, then no doubt optimized by EVgo to produce the maximum return to its shareholders.

This prompted me to see how the OG EA is doing these days in Chicopee MA, having debuted in May 2018 with four 350kW chargers, now with only the usual two actually working.

A PlugShare checkin though mentioned a new station along the Mass Turnpike, at the busy Lee service plaza.
So the eastbound and westbound sides each have two plugs.
Here is the official description for each side:

"Power limited for now to previous transformer levels, so 60 kW per station, 20kW/40kw split per plug if shared."​

And here is a checkin that counts as a positive experience under PlugShare's binary rating system:

"Hyundai Ioniq 5 2022​

"Connected right away. Only 16kw."​

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